


Dropped Hints

by MeredithBrody



Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: Gen, post ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-15 21:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12329613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: Aaron talks to Kendra about why she told him how to win.





	Dropped Hints

Kendra hated being in the EEOB this late in the evening, but she needed to write up her report and summary on the case against the administration. Even if, thanks to her, they had prevented what it was she was fighting against from occurring. She didn’t know who it was working as White House Counsel, it couldn’t be the snivelly little man who had been representing them in court, but whoever it was hadn’t done their job in telling them what not to do. On the other hand… There were enough lawyers in the administration that someone should have picked it up long before she had to drop hints. She was still thinking about that when there was a voice at her open door. “Why did you tell me how to beat you?”

“Because, honestly, I was surprised you hadn’t already worked it out.” She wasn’t going to pretend that there was any massive reason for why she told him how to win the case. He had, somewhat, won her over as to why they needed to get rid of Lloyd then and there, though he probably could have convinced her of that earlier if he’d come and spoke to her. A chance meeting in the hallway was not the most conducive means to negotiate.

“Why?” Aaron still looked slightly confused, and he stepped further through the door before shutting it behind him. She didn’t need to ask how he knew where she worked. Given his position, he could probably find out where anyone in the administration worked. Though of course, he could have just come in the main doors and asked.

As for why he hadn’t already worked out how to get around their injunction… Kendra was going to have to admit that it would take a little more explaining, and in a way she kind of wanted him to realise it for himself. So maybe she could try leading him there. “You are the NSA, right?” She asked, starting her little game. 

“Yes.” He sounded slightly suspicious, and instead of offering him the chair on the other side of her desk she left him standing there so she could look up at him from where she sat, slowly sliding her pen through her fingers.

“You were also Kirkman’s first chief of staff, correct?” Leading him back down his career history, she hoped, would have made him jump at the thought process she was leading him down, but as he just looked even more confused her hopes of that were starting to fade, and she had no idea where this was going to end up.

“I was.” There was an edge to his voice now, maybe he was losing patience, maybe he had guessed where this was going, but she wasn’t going to stop until he guessed or he outright asked her. Though she really could have probably just told him. That wouldn’t have been as much fun though, would it?

“And you were Deputy COS under Richland?” Maybe, maybe she was pushing it a little now, but one of them was going to crack and for her, the entertaining part was seeing how far she could push him. Watching the muscles bunch as he clenched then relaxed his jaw. Clearly starting to feel a little pressure. 

“Where is this going, Ms Daynes?” There it was, the proof she could outlast him if she was just her usual, slightly annoying, self. That was something that had served her well ever since law school, and then all through her career up until this point.

“Kendra, please.” She knew that it was a sign of politeness, but she would rather be called by her first name. She then motioned for him to take the seat on the other side of her desk. “This is going to me asking how you were so slow on the uptake?” It was a fair question, she thought. He had all the experience in government, they surely had someone advising them… how had it ever gotten that far? “You really should have gotten it long before I had to drop hints. You’ve been involved in government long enough to know that federal civilian law enforcement should be done by one of the agencies. It wasn’t that we didn’t want Lloyd to be gone, it was that we didn’t want the military doing it.” 

“You’re right.” Alright… that wasn’t the response she was going for. Instead of standing up and leaving like she’d expected, he sat forward, elbows on his knees while he looked at her. “Well… I’m not a constitutional scholar like you.” Oh now he’d opened up another avenue she could use to tease him.

“Well, we can’t all be perfect.” She grinned a little, still sliding her pen through her fingers, one of nervous ticks. She could happily and confidently talk to a room full of strangers, fighting for whatever her cause du jour was… but being alone in a room, talking one on one, that was something that she never got better at.

Aaron split into a smile though, clearly seeing that this time she was trying to wind him up, trying to get any kind of reaction out of him. She would take it, as it was a sign if they ever had to work together again they would probably be comfortable with each other. “You saying you’re perfect?” 

“No, not at all. I just like to argue for a living and it’s quite fun to wind you up.” She just couldn’t hold it in any longer, she had to burst out laughing, and she was quite relieved when she heard the laughter on the other side of the desk joining hers. It wasn’t the easiest situation she’d ever been in, but the teasing made it seem much less like they had almost ended up making legal history for all the wrong reasons.

“Oh really?” He continued chuckling for a moment, then he stood up again. This time she followed suit, and stepped a little to the side of her desk. “You did good work today, Kendra, even if we were on opposite sides.” There was something about that that made her pause for a second, then she realised that they weren’t really opposite sides, they wanted the same thing.

“We’re on the same side, Mr. Shore. We were just approaching it differently today.” That seemed the easiest way to explain it. She couldn’t help but smirk a little as she remembered how she hadn’t exactly made it difficult. “I was dropping hints about the military since the start, you just only got it when I made it obvious.”

“Aaron.” He decided they should be on first name terms too, and that was something else that made her feel even more confident that maybe, one day, she would be working with them all again. At least they weren’t going to try and pressure the senate to try and replace her. “What would you have argued if you’d been on our side?” Well, that was a question, wasn’t it. At least it was an easy one to answer.

“I wouldn’t, if I’d been representing the president I would have told you all that you couldn’t have the military in the lead. You had to let the FBI take it over.” She would have been able to head it all off, so would any good constitutional lawyer with more than five minutes experience.

“And we wouldn’t have had to go to court at all,” Aaron concluded before he tilted his head slightly and looked at her seriously. That made her feel a little nervous, and she hated feeling that instant rush of anxiety and dread, even though it was most likely all going to be fine. “Why aren’t you working on the president’s staff?”

That was not the question she’d expected. Not that she expected anything. “I assumed he had his preferred legal representative.” That was the only answer she thought she could really give. How would she know why she wasn’t working somewhere. “They never approached me, and I never really asked. I’m happy working in the senate.”

“Well. If I was still Chief of Staff… I’d be recommending to the president that he needs a regular counsel, and that it should be you.” Well. How did she reply to that? How would anyone reply to that? She put her hand down on the table to steady herself for a second, hoping that it looked like a natural movement.

“Thank you, Aaron, I am flattered.” She smiled again, wider this time. Truly flattered that she’d made that much of an impression on anyone, let alone someone who was still in the position to make any kind of recommendation to the president, even if it wasn’t about his staff. “I am happy though.”

“What if he did offer you the White House Counsel position?” Aaron was still serious, this wasn’t a hypothetical question. He was asking what she’d do, and Kendra had no idea what to say. Everything started to race in her mind, and it was going to take control again and force herself to focus.

She paused for a second, thinking through what that would mean, and the truth was if she was offered she didn’t think she could say no. It wasn’t the sort of job that you turned down, especially not at her point in her career. “Can you turn down a job from the President?”

“Good answer.” He smiled, then he held a hand out to shake hers, that casual expression back on his face, losing all of the intensity of the previous conversation. For all that he gave her, she hoped he wasn’t that obvious to the people he needed to keep secrets from. “See you again soon, counsellor.”

“I’m sure you will.” She replied, pushing that slightly awkward conversation out of her head. She doubted that anything would come of it, and no matter how serious Aaron was, she didn’t know if he still had that kind of influence. She found out a half an hour later, when she was called to meet with the president. She should have known, but she wasn’t unhappy about any of this. 


End file.
